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Physics
for the IB Diploma
K. A. Tsokos
This fifth edition of Physics for the IB Diploma covers, in one
volume, the entire new International Baccalaureate (IB) syllabus
(for first examinations in May 2009), including all the options at
both Standard Level and Higher Level. It features a chapter on
the role of physics in the context of the Theory of Knowledge
(TOK) course, along with many discussion questions for TOK.
The student-friendly design makes this comprehensive book easy
to use and the accessible language ensures that the material is
also suitable for students whose first language is not English.

The author has been teaching physics for over twenty years.

Fifth edition

Features include:
x answers to the end-of-chapter questions
x supplementary material for specific topics
x glossary of key terms.

Physics
for the
IB Diploma

K. A. Tsokos

The division of this book into chapters and sections usually follows
the organisation of the syllabus. However, since the sections are
reasonably independent of each other, alternative teaching
sequences may be used. Each chapter opens with a list of learning
objectives that are directly related to the syllabus. The questions
at the end of each chapter have been expanded and answers to
those involving calculation, plus some others, have been supplied
at the back of the book. Worked examples throughout the text
highlight important results, laws, definitions and formulae, and
provide students with the necessary skills to solve problems.

Physics for the IB Diploma

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Learning

Standard and
Higher Level
Fifth edition
K. A. Tsokos

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Contents
Preface
A note to the reader

xi
xii

2.2

Motion with constant

acceleration Core
Acceleration
Measuring speed and acceleration
More on graphs

48
48
54
56

Part I Core and AHL

Topic 1: Physics and physical

measurement

2.3

2
2
5

The concept of force Core

Forces and their direction
Hookes law

63
64
67

2.4

Newtons first law Core

Newtons first law
Equilibrium

69
69
70

2.5

Newtons second and

third laws Core
Newtons second law
The inclined plane
Newtons third law

76
77
82
83

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

The realm of physics Core

Orders of magnitude and units
Fundamental interactions
Uncertainties and errors Core
Errors of measurement
Significant digits
Line of best fit

8
8
11
12

Mathematical and graphical

techniques Core
Multiplicative changes
Straight-line graphs
Getting a linear graph
Interpreting graphs
Sine curves
Making assumptions

14
14
15
16
17
18
18

Vectors and scalars Core

Vectors
Multiplication of a vector by a scalar
Addition of vectors
Subtraction of vectors
Components of a vector

21
21
22
22
24
25

2.6

Linear momentum Core

The concept of momentum
Impulse
The law of conservation of
momentum
Proof of momentum conservation
Two-dimensional collisions

91
93
95

2.7

Work, energy and power Core

Work done by a force
Gravitational potential energy
The workkinetic energy relation
Conservation of energy
Frictional forces
Power
Kinetic energy and momentum
The problem of least time

99
99
102
103
104
107
108
110
112

2.8

Circular motion Core

Circular motion and centripetal
acceleration
Centripetal forces
Angular momentum

119

1.5 Graphical analysis and

uncertainties Core
Logarithmic functions
Propagation of errors

31
31
33

Topic 2: Mechanics

38

2.1

38
38
42
44

Kinematic concepts Core

Displacement and velocity
Frames of reference
Graphs for uniform motion

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87
87
89

119
122
123
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iv Contents

2.9

The law of gravitation Core

Newtons law of gravitation
Gravitational field strength

127
127
129

2.10 Projectile motion AHL

Parabolic motion
Launch at an arbitrary angle
Effect of air resistance forces

132
132
134
138

2.11 Motion in a gravitational field AHL

Gravitational potential energy
Escape velocity
Orbital motion
Equipotential surfaces
The binary star system

142
143
145
146
149
151

4.2

Travelling-wave characteristics Core

What is a wave?
Transverse and longitudinal waves
Wave pulses
Travelling waves
Wavefronts

216
216
217
218
218
224

4.3

Wave phenomena I: reflection and

refraction Core
The principle of superposition
Reflection and refraction of waves
Huygens principle

228
228
231
234

Wave phenomena II: diffraction and

interference Core
Diffraction
Interference

238
238
240

4.4

Topic 3: Thermal properties of matter 158

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

Thermal concepts Core

Temperature
Heat as energy
The atomic model of matter

158
158
159
160

Thermal properties Core

Specific heat capacity
Change of state
Measuring specific heats
Evaporation
The kinetic theory of gases

163
163
165
167
168
169

Ideal gases AHL

Pressure
The BoyleMariotte law
The volumetemperature law
The pressuretemperature law
The equation of state

174
174
175
176
177
178

Thermodynamics AHL
Internal energy
Work done on or by a gas
The first law of thermodynamics
The second law of thermodynamics
Degradation of energy

183
183
184
187
189
192

Topic 4: Oscillations and waves

195

4.1

195
195
196
204
207
208

Simple harmonic motion Core

Oscillations
Kinematics of simple harmonic motion
Energy in simple harmonic motion
Damping
Forced oscillations and resonance

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4.5

The Doppler effect AHL /

SL Option A
The Doppler effect

244
244

4.6

Standing waves AHL / SL Option A

Standing waves on strings and tubes
Resonance and the speed of sound

251
251
255

4.7

Diffraction AHL / SL Option A

Diffraction
Single-slit diffraction

259
259
261

4.8

Resolution AHL / SL Option A

The Rayleigh criterion

267
267

4.9

Polarization AHL / SL Option A

What is polarization?
Maluss law
Polarizers and analysers
Polarization by reflection
Optical activity
Practical applications of
polarization

271
271
272
273
274
275

Topic 5: Electricity and magnetism

280

5.1

Electric charge Core

Properties of electric charge
Coulombs law for the electric force

280
280
285

5.2

Electric field and electric

potential Core
Electric field
Electric potential
The electronvolt

289
289
292
295

276

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Contents v

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.6

Electric field and electric

potential AHL
Electric fields
Electric potential and energy
Equipotential surfaces
The connection between electric
potential and electric field
Similarities between electricity
and gravitation
Electric current and electric
resistance Core
Electric current
Electric resistance
Electric power

299
299
300
304

Radioactivity Core
The nature of alpha, beta and
gamma radiations
Radioactive decay equations
The law of radioactive decay

373
373
376
377

6.3

Nuclear reactions Core

The unified mass unit
The mass defect and binding energy
Nuclear reactions
Nuclear fission
Nuclear fusion

380
380
381
384
385
385

6.4

Interactions of matter with

energy AHL / SL Option B
The photoelectric effect
De Broglies wavelength

389
389
394

Quantum theory and the uncertainty

principle AHL / SL Option B
Atomic spectra
The electron in a box model
The Schrdinger theory
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle

398
398
399
400
402

6.2

306
310
310
312
314
318
318
320
325

Magnetic fields Core

Magnetic field
The magnetic force on a current
The magnetic force on a
moving charge
rsteds discovery
The force between two
current-carrying wires

336
336
338

327

339
341

6.5

6.6

343

5.7

Electromagnetic induction AHL

A wire moving in a magnetic field
Faradays law
Lenzs law
Faradays disc

350
350
351
354
356

5.8

Alternating current AHL

The AC generator
Power in AC circuits
The transformer
Transformers and power
transmission

360
360
361
363
365

Topic 6: Atomic and nuclear physics

367

6.1

367
367

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369
369
370
371

305

Electric circuits Core

Emf
Simple electric circuits
Ammeters and voltmeters
Sensors based on the potential
divider

The atom and its nucleus Core

The discovery of the nuclear atom
Consequences of the Rutherford
(GeigerMarsden) experiment

The Rutherford model of the atom

The Bohr model
Nuclear structure
The forces within the nucleus

368

Nuclear physics AHL / SL Option B

Scattering experiments and distance
of closest approach
The mass spectrometer
Beta decay and the neutrino
Nuclear energy levels
The radioactive decay law

Topic 7: Energy, power and climate

change
7.1

Energy degradation and power

generation Core
Degradation of energy
Electricity production
Energy sources
Fossil fuels
Nuclear power
Solar power
Hydroelectric power
Wind power
Wave power

407
407
408
409
410
411

415
415
415
417
417
418
420
423
425
427
428

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vi Contents

7.2

The greenhouse effect and global

warming Core
The black-body law
Solar radiation
The greenhouse effect
Global warming
Sea level
Effects of global warming on climate

434
434
436
438
444
447
448

8.2

Analogue and digital signals AHL /

SL Option C / SL and HL Option F
Binary numbers
Analogue and digital signals
Compact disks
Other storage devices
Advantages of digital storage

454
454
455
458
459
461

Digital imaging with charge-coupled

devices AHL / SL Option C
Capacitance
The charge-coupled device
CCD imaging characteristics
Medical uses of CCDs

463
463
464
466
467

Part II Options

Resolution SL

481

A6

Polarization SL

481

SL Option B Quantum physics

B1

Quantum physics SL

482

B2

Nuclear physics SL

482

SL Option C Digital technology

C1

Topic 8: Digital technology

8.1

A5

471

The content of Options AD (except

Option A1) is identical to that in the
appropriate chapter in the Core and
AHL material, to which the reader is
referred (details are given in the text).

Analogue and digital

signals SL

483

Data capture and imaging using

CCDs SL

483

C3

Electronics SL

484

C4

The mobile phone system SL

484

C2

SL Option D Relativity and particle

physics
D1

Introduction to relativity SL

485

D2

Concepts and postulates of special

relativity SL

485

D3

Relativistic kinematics SL

485

D4

Particles and interactions SL

486

D5

Quarks SL

486

SL and HL Option E Astrophysics

E1

Introduction to the universe SL

and HL
The solar system
Beyond the solar system
The motion of the stars

487
487
489
491

E2

Stellar radiation SL and HL

The energy source of stars
Luminosity
Black-body radiation
Stellar spectra
The HertzsprungRussell diagram
Types of stars

494
494
495
496
498
499
500

E3

Stellar objects SL and HL

The parallax method
Absolute and apparent magnitudes
Spectroscopic parallax
The Cepheids

506
506
507
510
511

SL Option A Sight and wave phenomena

A1

A2

The eye and sight SL

The structure of the human eye
Depth of vision
Accommodation
Scotopic and photopic vision
Colour
Colour blindness
Colour addition
Colour subtraction
Perception of colour and light

472
472
473
474
474
475
476
476
477
478

The Doppler effect SL

480

A3 Standing waves SL

480

A4 Diffraction SL

480

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E4

E5

E6

Cosmology SL and HL
Olbers paradox
The expanding universe
The Big Bang: the creation of space
and time
The development of the universe

514
514
516

Stellar evolution Extension HL

Nucleosynthesis
Evolutionary paths and stellar
processes
Pulsars and quasars

521
521

Galaxies Extension HL
Types of galaxy
Galactic motion
Hubbles law
The evolution of the
universe

517
517

525
529

F2

F3

Radio communication SL
and HL
Modulation
Amplitude modulation (AM)
Frequency modulation (FM)
Comparing AM and FM
The AM radio receiver
Analogue and digital signals SL
and HL
Binary numbers
Analogue and digital signals
Bit rate of a digital signal
The transmission and reception of
digital signals
Time division multiplexing
The advantages of digital
communication
Optic fibre transmission SL
and HL
Total internal reflection
Optical fibres
Dispersion
Attenuation
Detection
Noise
Regeneration

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F5

533
533
536
537
F6
539

Channels of communication SL
and HL
Copper wires
Wire pairs
Coaxial cables
Optic fibres
Radio waves
Microwave transmission through
free space
Satellite communications

574
574
575
575
575
576
577
578

Electronics Extension HL
The operational amplifier (op-amp)
The non-inverting amplifier
Reshaping digital pulses the
Schmitt trigger

584
584
588
590

The mobile phone

system Extension HL

596

SL and HL Option G Electromagnetic

waves

SL and HL Option F Communications

F1

F4

544
544
546
548
550
550
554
554
554
554

G1

Light SL and HL
The speed of light
Electromagnetic waves
Properties of EM waves
The laser

598
598
599
601
603

G2

Optical instruments SL and HL

Lenses
Optical instruments
Lens aberrations

607
607
617
620

G3

Interference and diffraction

SL and HL
Two-source interference
Youngs two-slit experiment
Intensity in two-slit interference
Multiple-slit diffraction
The diffraction grating

624
624
626
628
629
631

G4

X-rays Extension HL
The production of X-rays
X-ray diffraction

634
634
635

G5

Thin-film interference Extension

HL
Parallel films
Thin air wedges
Measuring small distances

640
640
641
642

557
558
558
562
562
564
565
567
569
570
571

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viii Contents

I3

HL Option H Special and

general relativity
H1 The principle of special
relativity HL
Frames of reference
The speed of light
The principle of special relativity

644
645
647
648

H2 The effects of special relativity HL

Time dilation
Length contraction
Addition of velocities

652
652
657
659

H3 Consequences of and evidence for

special relativity HL
Relativistic energy
Evidence for special relativity
The MichelsonMorley experiment
The constancy of the speed of
light
H4 Relativistic mechanics HL
Momentum and energy
(momenergy)
A point about units
A free electron cannot absorb
(or emit) a photon
H5 General relativity HL
The principle of equivalence
The tests of general relativity
The structure of the theory
Black holes
Time dilation in general
relativity

J1

722
723
723
725
728

J2

Detectors and accelerators HL

The need for high energies
Resolution
Accelerators
Synchrotron radiation
Available energy
Detectors

731
731
732
733
738
738
740

J3

Quarks and leptons HL

Hadrons baryons and mesons
Baryon number
Strangeness
The spin of hadrons
Colour
Gluons
Confinement
The interaction between nucleons
Quarks, leptons and the standard
model
Lepton number
The Higgs particle

746
746
748
748
749
749
750
751
752

671
673
674

685

HL Option I Biomedical physics

I1

I2

The functioning of the ear HL

The ear
Intensity of sound
Hearing defects

690
690
693
697

Medical imaging HL
Properties of radiation
X-ray imaging
Other imaging techniques
Ultrasound
Diagnostic uses of radioactive
sources

700
700
702
705
707

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709

712
716

Particles and interactions HL

Particles and antiparticles
The elementary particles
Quantum numbers
Antiparticles
Spin
The Heisenberg uncertainty
principle for time and energy
Virtual particles
Interactions and exchange particles
Feynman diagrams
The range of an interaction

671

677
677
680
682
683

712

HL Option J Particle physics

663
663
666
667
669

Radiation in medicine HL
Biological effects of radiation
and dosimetry
Radiation therapy

J4

Experimental evidence for

the standard model HL
Gell-Manns prediction of the
omega-minus
The direct evidence for quarks
Asymptotic freedom
The discovery of the Z0 and
neutral currents

718
718
719
720
720
721

752
753
753
758
758
758
761
761

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Contents ix

J5

Cosmology and strings HL

The Boltzmann equation
Matter and antimatter
Strings

Physics and the theory of

knowledge (TOK) SL and HL

764
764
765
766

770

Appendices
1

Physical constants

2 Masses of elements and

selected isotopes

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777

Astronomical data

780

4 Some important mathematical

results

781

782

Nobel prize winners in physics

Answers to questions

788

Glossary of selected terms

819

Index

832

778

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Part I
Core and AHL

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CHAPTER 1.1

Core Physics and physical measurement

The realm of physics

Physics is an experimental science in which measurements made must be expressed in
units. In the International System of units used throughout this book, the SI system, there
are seven fundamental units, which are dened in this chapter. All quantities are expressed
in terms of these units directly or as a combination of them.

Objectives
By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
appreciate the order of magnitude of various quantities;
perform simple order-of-magnitude calculations mentally;
state the fundamental units of the SI system.

Orders of magnitude and units

How many molecules are there in the sun? This
may sound like a very difficult question with
which to start a physics textbook, but very basic
physics can give us the answer. Before we try to
work out the answer, guess what you think the
answer is by giving a power of 10. The number
of molecules in the sun is 10 to the power . . . ?
To answer the question we must first have an
idea of the mass of the sun. You may know this,
or you can easily look it up (to save you doing
this for this example, we can tell you that it is
about 1030 kg). Next, you will need to know
what the chemical composition of the sun is. It
is made up of 75% hydrogen and 25% helium,
but as we are only making a rough estimate, we
may assume that it is made out of hydrogen
entirely. The molar mass of hydrogen is 2 g
mol1 and so the sun contains 1033/2 mol 5
1032 mol. The number of molecules in one mole
of any substance is given by the Avogadro
constant, which is about 6 1023, so the sun
has around 5 1032 6 1023 3 1056
molecules. How close was your guess?

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The point of this exercise is that, first, we need

units to express the magnitude of physical
quantities. We must have a consistent set of
units we all agree upon. One such set is the
International System (SI system), which has
seven basic or fundamental units. The units
of all other physical quantities are combinations
of these seven. These units are presented later
in this section. The second point is that we
have been able to answer a fairly complicated
sounding question without too much detailed
knowledge a few simplifying assumptions
and general knowledge have been enough. The
third point you may already have experienced.
How close was your guess for the number of
molecules in the sun? By how much did your
exponent differ from 56? Many of you will have
guessed a number around 101000 and that is way
off. The number 101000 is a huge number you
cannot find anything real to associate with
such a number. The mass of the universe is about
1053 kg and so repeating the calculation above we
find that the number of hydrogen molecules in
the entire universe (assuming it is all hydrogen)
is about 1079 a big number to be sure but
nowhere near 101000. Part of learning physics is

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1.1 The realm of physics

to appreciate the magnitude of things whether

they are masses, times, distances, forces or just
pure numbers such as the number of hydrogen
molecules in the universe. Hopefully, you will be
able to do that after finishing this course.

The SI system
The seven basic SI units are:
1 The metre (m). This is the unit of distance. It is
the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in a
time of 1/299 792 458 seconds.
2 The kilogram (kg). This is the unit of mass. It is
the mass of a certain quantity of a platinum
iridium alloy kept at the Bureau International
des Poids et Mesures in France.
3 The second (s). This is the unit of time. A second is
the duration of 9 192 631 770 full oscillations of
the electromagnetic radiation emitted in a
transition between the two hyperfine energy
levels in the ground state of a caesium-133 atom.
4 The ampere (A). This is the unit of electric
current. It is defined as that current which,
when flowing in two parallel conductors 1 m
apart, produces a force of 2 107 N on a
length of 1 m of the conductors.
5 The kelvin (K). This is the unit of temperature. It
is 2731.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of
the triple point of water.
6 The mole (mol). One mole of a substance
contains as many molecules as there are atoms
in 12 g of carbon-12. This special number of
molecules is called Avogadros number and is
approximately 6.02 1023 .
7 The candela (cd). This is a unit of luminous intensity. It is the intensity of a source of frequency
1
W per steradian.
5.40 1014 Hz emitting 683

The details of these definitions should not be

memorized.
In this book we will use all of the basic units
except the last one. Some of these definitions
probably do not make sense right now but
eventually they will.
Physical quantities other than those above have
units that are combinations of the seven

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fundamental units. They have derived units. For

example, speed has units of distance over time,
metres per second (i.e. m/s or, preferably, m s1).
Acceleration has units of metres per second
squared (i.e. m/s2, which we write as m s2). In
other words, we treat the symbols for units as
algebraic quantities. Similarly, the unit of force
is the newton (N). It equals the combination
kg m s2. Energy, a very important quantity in
physics, has the joule (J) as its unit. The joule is
the combination N m and so equals (kg m s2 m),
or kg m2 s2. The quantity power has units of
energy per unit of time and so is measured in
J s1. This combination is called a watt. Thus,
1 W (1 N m s1) (1 kg m s2 m s1)
1 kg m2 s3.
Occasionally, small or large quantities can be
expressed in terms of units that are related to
the basic ones by powers of 10. Thus, a
nanometre (symbol nm) is 109 m, a microgram
(g) is 106 g = 109 kg, a gigaelectron volt
(GeV) equals 109 eV, etc. The most common
prefixes are given in Table 1.1.

Power

Prefix

Symbol

Power

Prefix

Symbol

1018

atto-

101

deka-

da*

hecto-

h*

kilo-

mega-

10

giga-

10

12

tera-

15

peta-

P*

18

exa-

E*

10

15

10

12

10

10

10

10

10

femtopico-

nano-

micro-

millicentideci-

m
c
d

10

10
10

10
10

*Rarely used.

Table 1.1 Common prefixes.

When we write an equation in physics, we have

to make sure that the units of the quantity on
the left-hand side of the equation are the same
as the units on the right-hand side. If the units
do not match, the equation cannot be right. For
example, the period T (a quantity with units of
time) of a pendulum is related to the length
of the pendulum l (a quantity with units of

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4 Core Physics and physical measurement

length) and the acceleration due to gravity g
(units of acceleration) through


l
T = 2
g
The units on the right-hand side must reduce to
units of time. Indeed, the right-hand side units
are


m
= s2 = s
2
ms

as required (note that 2 is a dimensionless

constant). The fact that the units on both sides
of an equation must match actually offers a
powerful method for guessing equations.
For example, the velocity of a wave on a string is
related to the length l and mass m of the string,
and the tension force F the string is subjected to.
How exactly does the velocity depend on these
three variables? One guess is to write
v = c F x l y mz
where c is a numerical constant (a pure number
without units) and x, y and z are numbers to be
determined. There could be some confusion
here because m stands for mass but we also use
the symbol m for the metre. To avoid this we
will use the notation [M] to stand for the unit of
mass, [L] for the unit of length, [T] for the unit
of time, etc. Then, looking at the units of the
last equation we have that

In other words, the original formula becomes


Fl
1/2 1/2
1/2
=c
v = cF l m
m
Obviously this method cannot give the value of
the dimensionless constant c. To do that we
have to learn some physics!
Tables 1.21.4 give approximate values for some
interesting sizes, masses and time intervals.
Expressing a quantity as a plain power of 10
gives what is called the order of magnitude of
that quantity. Thus, the mass of the universe

Length/m
Distance to edge of observable universe

1026

Distance to the Andromeda galaxy

1022

Diameter of the Milky Way galaxy

1021

Distance to nearest star

1016

Diameter of solar system

1013

Distance to sun

1011

Radius of the earth

107

Size of a cell

105

Size of a hydrogen atom

1010

Size of a nucleus

1015

Size of a proton

1017

Planck length

1035

Table 1.2 Some interesting sizes.

Mass/kg

x
[L ] 
= [M][L ][T ]2 [L ] y [M]z
[T ]
1

[L ][T ]

= [M]

x +z

[L ]

x+y

2x

[T ]

The two equations match if the exponents of [L],

[M] and [T] match that is, if
x+z=0
x+y=1
2x = 1
These equations imply that
1
x= ,
2

1
y=
2

and

1
z=
2

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The universe

1053

The Milky Way galaxy

1041

The sun

1030

The earth

1024

Boeing 747 (empty)

105

An apple

0.25

A raindrop

106

A bacterium

1015

Smallest virus

1021

A hydrogen atom

1027

An electron

1030

Table 1.3 Some interesting masses.

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Time/s
Age of the universe

1017

Age of the earth

1017

Time of travel by light to nearby star

108

One year

107
5

One day

10

Period of a heartbeat

Period of red light

1015

Time of passage of light across a nucleus

1024

Planck time

1043

Table 1.4 Some interesting time intervals.

has an order of magnitude of 1053 kg and the

mass of the Milky Way galaxy has an order of
magnitude of 1041 kg. The ratio of the two
masses is then simply 1012.

Fundamental interactions
There are four basic or fundamental
interactions in physics. However, in 1972, the
electromagnetic and weak interactions were
unified into one the electroweak interaction.
In this sense, then, we may speak of just three
fundamental interactions (see Figure 1.1).

Gravitational

Gravitational

Electromagnetic
Electroweak
Weak (nuclear force)
Colour (or strong nuclear force)

Colour

Figure 1.1 The fundamental interactions of

physics. Since 1972, the electromagnetic and
weak interactions have been shown to be part of
a generalized interaction called the electroweak
interaction.

Q1
How many grains of sand are required to ll the
earth? (This is a classic problem that goes back to
Aristotle.)
Answer

The radius of the earth is about 6400 km, which we

may approximate to 10 000 km. The volume of the
earth is thus approximately 8 (10 10 6 )3 m 3
8 10 21 m 3 . We are assuming a cubical earth of
side equal to twice the radius. This is a simplifying
assumption. The true volume is 43 R 3 = 1.1
10 21 m 3 , which agrees with our estimate (we are
only interested in the power of 10 not the number
in front). The diameter of a grain of sand varies of
course but we will take 1 mm as a fair estimate.
Then the number of grains of sand required to ll
the earth is
8 10 21 m 3
= 8 10 30 10 31
(1 10 3 )3 m 3

Q2
Estimate the speed with which human hair grows.
Answer

I cut my hair every 2 months and the barber cuts

a length of about 2 cm. The speed is thus
10 2
2 10 2
m s1
2 30 24 60 60
3 2 36 10 4
10 6
10 6
=

6 40
240
4 10 9 m s1

Q3
If all the people on earth were to hold hands in a
straight line, how long would the line be? How
many times would it wrap around the earth?
Answer

Example questions
Let us close this chapter with a few problems
similar to the one we started with. These
problems are sometimes known as Fermi
problems, after the great physicist Enrico Fermi,
who was a master in this kind of estimation.

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Assume that each person has his or her hands

stretched out to a distance of 1.5 m and that the
population of earth is 6 10 9 people. Then the
length would be 6 10 9 1.5 m = 9 10 9 m .
The circumference of the earth is 2R 6
6 10 6 m 4 10 7 m and so the line would
9
200 times around the equator.
wrap 910
410 7

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6 Core Physics and physical measurement

Q4
How many revolutions do the wheels of a car
make before it is junked?

8 The molar mass of water is 18 g mol1 . How

many molecules of water are there in a glass
of water (of volume 0.3 L)?

Answer

9 Assuming that the mass of a person is made

up entirely of water, how many molecules are
there in a human body (of mass 60 kg)?

We assume that the car runs 250 000 km before

it is junked and that the wheels have a radius of
30 cm. Then the number of revolutions is
2.5 10 8
2.5

10 8 10 8
2 0.3
21

Q5
What depth of car tyre wears off with each turn?
(This is another classic problem.)
Answer

We assume that a depth of 5 mm wears off every

60 000 km. (These numbers are standard for
people who own cars.) Then, for a wheel of
radius 30 cm the number of revolutions is (see
6 10 7
2 6 1 10 7 3 10 7
previous problem) 2
0.3
and so the wear per revolution is 3 510 7 mm/rev
10 7 mm/rev.

?
Q

QUESTIONS

Have a look through these questions and answer

any that you can. However, dont worry about
any you cant answer; leave them for now and
come back to them when you reach the end of
the course.
1 How long does light take to travel across a
proton?
2 How many hydrogen atoms does it take to
make up the mass of the earth?
3 What is the age of the universe expressed in
units of the Planck time?
4 What is the radius of the earth (6380 km)
expressed in units of the Planck length?
5 How many heartbeats are there in the lifetime
of a person (75 years)?
6 What is the mass of our galaxy in terms of a
solar mass?
7 What is the diameter of our galaxy in terms of
the astronomical unit, i.e. the distance
between the earth and the sun?

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10 Assuming the entire universe to be made up of

hydrogen gas, how many molecules of
hydrogen are there?
11 Give an order-of-magnitude estimate of the
density of a proton.
12 How long does light from the sun take to
arrive on earth?
13 How many apples do you need to make up
the mass of an average elephant?
14 How many bricks are used to build an
average two-storey family house?
15 (a) How many metres are there in 5.356 nm?
(b) How many in 1.2 fm?
(c) How many in 3.4 mm?
16 (a) How many joules of energy are there in
4.834 MJ?
(b) How many in 2.23 pJ?
(c) How many in 364 GJ?
17 (a) How many seconds are there in 4.76 ns?
(b) How many in 24.0 ms?
(c) How many in 8.5 as?
18 What is the velocity of an electron that covers
a distance of 15.68 mm in 87.50 ns?
19 An electron volt (eV) is a unit of energy equal
to 1.6 10 19 J. An electron has a kinetic
energy of 2.5 eV.
(a) How many joules is that?
(b) What is the energy in eV of an electron
that has an energy of 8.6 10 18 J?
20 What is the volume in cubic metres of a cube
of side 2.8 cm?
21 What is the side in metres of a cube that has a
volume of 588 cubic millimetres?
22 One inch is 2.54 cm and one foot has
12 inches. The acceleration due to gravity is
about 9.8 m s2 . What is it in feet per square
second?
23 One uid ounce is a volume of about
2.96 10 5 m 3 . What is the side, in inches, of

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a cube whose volume is 125 uid ounces?

(One inch is 2.54 cm.)
24 A horsepower (hp) is a unit of power equal to
about 746 W. What is the power in hp of a
224 kW car engine?
25 Give an order-of-magnitude estimate for the
mass of:
(a) an apple;
(b) this physics book;
(c) a soccer ball.
26 Give an order-of-magnitude estimate for the
time taken by light to travel across the
diameter of the Milky Way galaxy.
27 A white dwarf star has a mass about that of
the sun and a radius about that of the earth.
Give an order-of-magnitude estimate of the
density of a white dwarf.
28 A sports car accelerates from rest to 100 km per
hour in 4.0 s. What fraction of the acceleration
due to gravity is the cars acceleration?
29 Give an order-of-magnitude estimate for the
number of electrons in your body.
30 Give an order-of-magnitude estimate for the
gravitational force of attraction between two
people 1 m apart.

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31 Give an order-of-magnitude estimate for the

ratio of the electric force between two
electrons 1 m apart to the gravitational force
between the electrons.
32 The frequency f of oscillation (a quantity with
units of inverse seconds) of a mass m attached
to a spring of spring constant k (a quantity
with units of force per length) is related to m
and k. By writing f = cm x k y and matching
units on both sides show that

f = c mk , where c is a dimensionless
constant.
33 Without using a calculator estimate the value
of the following expressions and then
compare with the exact value using a
calculator:
243
;
43
(b) 2.80 1.90 ;

(a)

(c)

312 480
;
160

(d)

8.99 10 9 7 10 6 7 10 6
;
(8 10 2 )2

(e)

6.6 10 11 6 10 24
.
(6.4 10 6 )2

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CHAPTER 1.2

Core Physics and physical measurement

Uncertainties and errors

This chapter introduces the basic methods of dealing with experimental error and
uncertainty in measured physical quantities. Physics is an experimental science and
often the experimenter will perform an experiment to test the prediction of a given
theory. No measurement will ever be completely accurate, however, and so the result of
the experiment will be presented with an experimental error. Thus, in comparing the
results of an experiment with the prediction of the theory being tested, the
experimenter will have to decide if the disagreement between theory and experiment
is due to failure of the theory or whether the disagreement falls within the bounds of
experimental error and so can be tolerated.

Objectives
By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
state the various types of errors that may arise in the measurement of a
physical quantity;
state the difference between accuracy and precision;
draw a line of best fit;
appreciate the importance of significant digits.

Errors of measurement
There are two main types of error of
measurement or observation. They can be
grouped into random and systematic even though
in many cases it is not possible to sharply
distinguish between the two. We may say that
random errors are almost always the fault of
the observer whereas systematic errors are due
to both the observer and the instrument being
used. In practice, all errors are a combination of
the two.
A random error is characterized by the fact that
it is revealed by repeated measurements (the
measurements fluctuate about some value they
are sometimes larger and sometimes smaller)
whereas a systematic error is not. Random
errors can be reduced by averaging over

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repeated measurements, whereas errors that

are systematic cannot.
We may also consider a third class of errors
called reading errors. This is a familiar type of
error that has to do with the fact that it is often
difficult to read the instrument being used
with absolute precision. This type of reading
error is inherent in the instrument being used
and cannot be improved upon by repeated
measurements. If a length is measured using a
ruler whose smallest division is a millimetre
and the end of the object to be measured falls
in between two divisions on the ruler, it is easy
to determine that the length is, say, between
14.5 cm and 14.6 cm, but there is some
guesswork involved in stating that the length is
14.54 cm. It is standard practice to assume that
the reading error is half the smallest division

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1.2 Uncertainties and errors

interval on the instrument. For the ruler, this

interval is 1 mm, and half of this is 0.5 mm or
0.05 cm. We may state the position of the right
end of the object we are measuring as
(14.54 0.05) cm. In practice, though, to
measure the length means also finding the
position of the left end of the object, and there
is a similar uncertainty in that measurement.
Suppose that the left end is recorded at
(1.00 0.05) cm. The length is then the
difference of the measurements for the
positions of the right and left ends of the
object, and this is 13.54 cm. As we will see later,
the subtraction of the two measurements
implies that the uncertainties will add, so that
we end up with a length measurement that is
uncertain by 0.1 cm. In that case it does not
make sense to quote the answer for the length
to more than one decimal place, and we may
quote the length as (13.5 0.1) cm.

where N is the total number of measurements.

We then define the deviation of each individual

measurement from the average by xi = xi x.

If the absolute magnitudes of all these
deviations are smaller than the reading error,
then we can quote the experimental result as

For digital instruments we may take the

reading error to be the smallest division that
the instrument can read. So a stopwatch that
reads time to two decimal places, e.g. 25.38 s,
will have a reading error of 0.01s, and a
weighing scale that records a mass as 184.5 g
will have a reading error of 0.1g. The typical
reading errors for some common instruments
are listed in Table 2.1.

which is called the unbiased estimate of the

standard deviation of the N measurements xi .
(With graphic calculators this can be done quite
easily and quickly.) The result of the experiment
is then expressed as

Instrument

Reading error

Ruler

0.5 mm

Vernier calipers

0.05 mm

Micrometer

0.005 mm

Volumetric (measuring) cylinder

0.5 mL

Electronic weighing scale

0.1 g

Stopwatch

0.01 s

Table 2.1 Reading errors for some common

instruments.

Random errors
If a measurement is repeated many times, it can
be expected that the measurement will be too
large as often as it will be too small. So, if an
average of these measurements is taken, the

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error will tend to cancel. The experimental

result of the measurement of a given quantity x
will thus be the average of the individual
measurements, i.e.
x =

x1 + x2 + + x N
N

x reading error
However, if the deviations from the mean are
larger in magnitude than the reading error, the
experimental error in the quantity x will have
to include random errors as well. To estimate
the random error we calculate the quantity


(x1 )2 + (x2 )2 + + (x N )2
e=
N 1

x e
To illustrate these points consider the
measurement of a length using a ruler. The
reading error according to one observer is
0.1 cm. The experimenter produces a table of
results and, after computing the average of the
measurements, the deviation and its square are
also inserted in the table see Table 2.2.

Length/cm
(0.1 cm)

Deviation
x/cm

( x)2/cm2

14.88

0.09

0.0081

14.84

0.05

0.0025

15.02

0.23

0.0529

14.57

0.22

0.0484

14.76

0.03

0.0009

14.66

0.13

0.0169

Table 2.2 A table of results.

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10 Core Physics and physical measurement

The average is 14.79 cm and the standard
deviation of these measurements is 0.1611 cm.
The random error is larger than the reading error
and so it must be included in the result. The
result of the measurement is thus expressed as
14.8 0.2 cm. This is much more realistic than
simply quoting the average and the reading error,
14.79 0.1 cm. Note that it does not make sense
to quote the average to more than one decimal
point as the error makes even the first decimal
point uncertain. Note also that once a large
number of measurements are accumulated,
further measurements do not appreciably change
the estimate of the error. Thus, it is of little use to
take, say, 50 measurements of the length of the
object in the example above.
Note also, finally, that even the calculation of a
standard deviation is not all that necessary. The
largest deviation from the mean in Table 2.2 is
0.23 cm, which we may round to 0.2 cm and
accept that as a rough estimate of the error.

Systematic errors
The most common source of a systematic error
is an incorrectly calibrated instrument. For
example, consider a digital force sensor. When
the sensor is to be used for the first time, it
must be calibrated. This means that we must
apply a force whose value we are confident we
know, say 5.0 N, and then adjust the sensor so
that it too reads 5.0 N. If we apply the 5.0 N force
and then adjust the instrument to read 4.9 N,
the instrument will be incorrectly calibrated. It
will also be incorrectly calibrated if the sensor is
adjusted to read 5.0 N when the known force
that we apply is not really 5.0 N. If we use this
sensor to verify Newtons second law, we would

expect to get a straight-line graph through the

origin if we plot the net force on the body versus
its acceleration. Since all measurements of the
force will be off by the same amount, the
straight line will not pass through the origin.
The systematic error in the force would then be
the vertical intercept (see Figure 2.1a).
A systematic error will also arise if we use an
instrument that has a zero error. For example, if an
ammeter shows a current of 0.1 A even before it is
connected to a circuit, it has a zero error. It must
be adjusted to read zero. If the adjustment is not
done, every measurement of current made with
this ammeter will be larger than the true value of
the current by 0.1 A. Thus, if this ammeter is used
to investigate the voltagecurrent characteristic of
an ohmic resistor, we will not get the expected
straight line through the origin but a straight line
that misses the origin. The systematic error in the
current would then be the horizontal intercept
(see Figure 2.1b).
Systematic errors are not always easy to
estimate but sometimes the direction of the
error is. Thus, suppose that an experimenter
assumes that no friction is present in an
experiment on an air track, where the velocity
of an object sliding on it is measured after
having travelled a certain distance. A small
amount of friction will slow down the object
and so the velocity measurements will be
consistently lower than their true values. It is
difficult though to estimate by how much.

A systematic error will also arise if the

experimenter makes the same error for all the
measurements she takes. For example, consider
measuring a length with a ruler. The ruler is
aligned with the object to be
measured and the experimenter
F/ N
V/V
must then position her eye
observed
directly above the ruler. If,
expected
expected
observed
however, the experimenter
consistently stands to the side,
as shown in Figure 2.2, the
a/m s2
I/A
measured value will always be
(a)
(b)
larger than the true length. If
Figure 2.1 The types of systematic error that arise from incorrectly
she stands on the other side, the
calibrated instruments and instruments that have a zero error.

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